How do you get a school aged child to stop sucking her thumb?

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Manuela - posted on 08/23/2009

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My daughter had a dummy when she was small and when she threw her dummy away at the age of 5 years old, she started sucking her thumb until about 7 years old. We decided together that when her big front top teeth came out she would try to stop and luckily she realised that it was the right time to stop and did. We are very proud of her.

I am embarressed to say I am 42 years old. When I am sleeping I still suck my thumb. I put cloves on my hands. The cloves were all wet. I tried puting stuff on my hand that would tast awful and all kinds of stuff. I do not realize I am doing it untill someone removes my thumb. Now I did stu]op doing it during the day when I was a kid. I do not remeber how but I would not worry about it. It is not hurting anyone or herslf. I would just say kindly. Please take your thumb out of your mouth. You are a big girl. The only thing that would make me nerves if she gets teesed in school. Try when she does not have her thumb in her mouth. Say godd job your not sucking your thumb. Keep up the good work. Hope this helps. Good luck.

My nephew sucked his thumb until 7.5 yrs. He had made friends with another little boy - thumb sucker (not sure if his mom planned it that way). Anyway, together they decided to stop and helped each other while breaking the habit.

Try talking to the teacher. I went with my oldest (2nd grade) class fieldtrip. My son and other child were assigned to help another student with kind reminders each time that student started to put his hand near his mouth.

My sister is 42 and still sucks her thumb when she gets bored. She doesn't even realize she is doing it. My mom tried everything from coating it with pepper to getting a prescription from the doctor and nothing worked. The best advice I can give you is to gently remind her to remove her thumb from her mouth when you catch her sucking on it.